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Obsidianites from the western shore of dry Fish LtJke may be cut into lovelv
jewels of smoky-pink and translucent gray. Some are more than an inch in diameter, and specimens are plelltifili.
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By HAROLD WEIGHT
Photographs by the author
Map by Norion Allen
AS LUCILE and I looked down
from the shoulders of Nevada's
Silver Peak Mountains onlo the
shining. desolate chemical marshes of
Fish Lake Valley, we tried to picture the scene as John S. Spears described it in 1892. Spears, visiting the
borax workings here, saw numerous
ponds of water-which he said lasted
through the year-surrounded by vast
beds of tules. It was a hunter's paradise: "Mallards, widgeons, teal, butterballs and what-not" were there in
incredibly large numbers. Flocks of
thousands filled the air by day and at
night the bird-gabble never ceased.
In fact there were so many wildfowl around these Nevada marshes
that often there wasn't enough water
to go around. When even the smallest
pools were filled, Spears tells us, the
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ducks landed in crystallizing tanks of
the borax {Jlants where they paddled
about happIly through the night. The
borax crystals formed rapidly at low
temperatures-not only on the sides
of the tanks as intended, but also upon
all submerged portions of the invading
ducks and they were too heavily laden
to take off when morning came.
A variation of this phenomenon, it
is claimed, furnished easy hunting for
the Indians of the desert at other
chemically impregnated lakes. At
Keeler on Owen's Lake, for example,
the birds became so encumbered with
sal-soda that they could neither £Iy
nor dive. "And there is no one in the
world who enjoys his sport so well as
a Paiute does when gathering in crystalladen ducks."
Spears was an honest and able re-
Most rock collectors are familIar with those little volcanic
nodules of natural qlass known
as "volcanic tears." Harold and
Lucile Weiqht found a field of
them mIles in extent on the
Neva~a desert near the CalIfornia border. They also discovered a qhost mininq camp
--(I
relIc of the days when
borax was mined from a desert
dry lake. This is a field trip
which can be made in the summer months.
porter. His rare "Illustrated Sketches
of Death Valley and Other Borax
Deserts of the Pacific Coast" is a vivid
eye-witness account of the trails, people and industries of our desert at the
close of the last century. Let it be
noted, however, that he did not sec the
over·ballasted ducks himself. Francis
Marion Smith, the borax king. told
him about them, and "others confirmed
it, and there is no doubt of it."
Present-day visitors to Fish Lake
Valley need not expect to add these
mineralogical wild-fowl to their collections. Now the marshes are dry
most of the year. The thousands of
wild game birds come no more. If
they did come, there would be no
crystallizing tanks to trap them. The
DESERT MAGAZINE
•
borax mills are gone and nothing remains to mark their industry but
glittering piles of waste, rusting metal
and bits of timber, rope and cloth.
But this wild and colorful valley
which lies along the Nevada-ealifornia
line, across the White Mountains from
Bishop has much to interest the desertlover. For the photographer, there is
the "Fire Hole," an area of vivid volcanic buttes and hills, and the "Sump
Hole," a pale, miniature Bryce. For
the historian there is another chapter
in the story of desert borax. And for
the rockhound there are thousands of
beautiful smoky-pink little volcanic
tears.
It was the interest collectors showed
in the obsidianites of Bagdad on the
Mojave (Desert. November, 1949)
which recalled to my mind the quantities of the little volcanic glass nodules
which l had seen in Fish Lake VaUey
while on a petrified wood hunt several
yeats before. Lucile and 1 determined
to re-visit the area to see bow far the
field extended.
From Southern California, Fish Lake
Valley is one of the most easily reached
spots in Nevada. Following the main
highway up Owen's Valley to Bishop,
we then took U. S. 6 through Benton,
crossed the state line and climbed
through spectacular mountain--desert
country to Montgomery Pass (7150
feet). From the pass, the road runs
swiftly down through Basalt and to
Columbus Marsh, where the turnoff
to the south was made. This turnoff,
to paved Nevada Highway 3A, is 28.1
miles east of the Nevada state line
and 6. I miles west of the junction of
Highways 6 and 95.
Fish Lake Valley is high, and summer is the best collecting time there.
The obsidianite field itself has an elevation of about 5000 feet. In winter
the great wall of the White Mountains
may be cased in snow down almost to
the valley. It's spectacular then, but
cold. Even April nights sometimes
have a sting, and it was late in May
when 1 saw the flowers of the valley
slopes in their full beauty: apricol
mallow, lovely pale yellow scale bud,
phacelia, verbena, evening primrose,
spectacle pod and dyeweed.
We made our most recent visit in
early September and even then there
was a touch of snow frosting the very
tops of the White Mountains. It was
cold at night and hot in the daytime
but collecting-even at noon-was
quite comfortable. On that trip it was
long after dark when we reached Highway 3A. Almost immediately after
turning south-at .3 mile from Highway 6--we left the paving and angled
to the left along a bladed road that
headed for a break in the northwest
end of the Silver Peak Mountains
known as the Gap. A short distance
through the Gap, and 3.9 miles from
Highway 6, we pulled off the road
onto a little bajada.
The moon was nearly full and campmaking was easily accomplished by
its light. When the air-mattresses were
inflated and the sleeping bags unrolled, [ dug out my portable ultraviolet lamp and set out on a little
fluorescent hunt. The moon was so
brillianl it cancelled the effect of the
lamp, and 1 had to examine specimens
either in my own shadow or that of the
truck. But I soon found many little
bits of chalcedony and a few opal that
gave a green light under the ultraviolet. I determined to check in the
morning to see if the specimens were
float from the big butte to our west.
One of my most vivid remem·
brances of Fish Lake Valley was of the
bright colors of the Fire Hole. In the
early morning light, these colors were
at their best. There are a few equaUy
pigmented spots on the desert, but I
do not know of any that excel the
Fire Hole for intensity.
l,.uciJe was busy, immediately, trying
to figure Oul color names for the
surrounding formations. Just across
the road east of us was a peculair
conjcal hill for all the world like a
modernistic lampshade-a black and
chartreuse polka dot affair that belonged on a Chinese red table. Beyond was one that looked like redchocolate sauce poured over buffpistachio ice cream. A white hill was
capped with rich brown.
We passed one butte of smokeblue, cream, rose-buff and chalk.
Near it anmher was red-rose, chalk,
fire-red, black and bright brown. The
violet grey and buff of a long ridge
attracted our attention, and to the
east still other buttes and ridges glowed
with both brilliant and pastel colors.
II is no wonder tbe Fish Lake Valley
country is so vivid. It has burned in
the great furnaces of world-building
for half a million years. According to
H. W. Turner, who studied the geology of the region for the U. S. Geological Survey many years ago, volcanic
action here began far back in the
Paleozoic era with acid flows of lava.
Then came a long period of compara-
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SEPTEMBER,
1950
15
tive quiet which was broken by the
vast outflowing of rhyolite and andesite
in the Tertiary age, Jess than 100,000,000 years ago. Action started again
on a large scale in tbe Pliocene, at
the close of the Tertiary, with eruptions
of pumice and basnlt-a disturbance
which is believed to have continued
far into the Pleistocene.
But volcanic action is not responsible for all the color and fascinating
geology of the Fish Lake area. In
middle Tertiary times the towering
Silver Peak Mountains probably did
not exist at all. A great lake spread
over this whole region-Lake Esmeralda, Turner called it. Hs broad basin
reached from the White and Inyo
Mountains on the west to the Montezuma Mountains on the east. Palmetto
Mountain was its southern boundary,
but how far to the north it stretched
and whether or not it once connected
with ancient Lake Lahontan, Turner
did not determine.
When the Silver Peak range shouldered up from the old lake bed it
arched and broke the lake sediments,
thrusting some of them to the very tops
of the new mountains and to an elevation of 7500 feet above sea level.
It is in these lake bed sediments, which
Turner called the Esmeralda formation, that scattered finds of beautiful
petrified wood have been made.
After breakfast we broke camp and
moved on toward the obsidian field.
But before we left, we traced the
fluorescent chalcedony float and
found that it did come (rom narrow
veins low in the southern side of the
big butte just west of our campground'.
Here, lOa, we found a few small beautifully formed chalcedony roses. The
material here in the Fire Hole is limited, but rockhounds checking similar
formations should find interesting rock.
They might also find some opalized
wood in this area, but it has been
well hunted over.
We continued south along the
scraped road. When I had been in
the Fire Hole laSI-several years before and much earlier in Ihe seasonGap springs had been seeping and
Ihere was a tiny lake at this narrow
spot. Thc contrast of its bright blue
water, white salt margins and highly
colored buttes woutd have tested the
verity of any color film. However in
September the little basin was dry,
its chemically-saturated bottom spotted with a salt-toving grass.
Fish Lake is a long valley, extending
across the state line to the south. and
far inlO California. But the obsidian
field and the borax playa we intended
to visit are entirely within Nevada.
We continued south to 4.8 miles from
Highway 6. Here the bladed road
divides. The left branch swings across
16
ROAD LOG
FiJlh take Valley Obsldlanlles
00.0
00.3
03.9
04.6
10.1
10.2
10.3
11.7
Juncllon of N....ado Hlqh....ay
3A ....lIh U. S. Hlqhway 6. 28.1
mil.. .0.1 01 lb. N....oda .lale
lID. QJld 6.1 mU•• wnt of th.
JunelloD ot U. S. Hiqhway. 6 and
95. TurD .outh On pa.... d N.
...ada 3A.
t.a.... pa...lnq, anqUnq I.ft onto
bladed road which continu••
almo.t due .outh for th. Gap,
a break in th. colorful SU...er
Peat Mountal....
Th. "Fir. Hal.:' .pec;tacuJarly
colored bull.. QIId roo;k fonna·
lion•.
Road Y. :rMP rlqht (.outh) lor
ob.ld1anll•• which may be 10UDd
trom thi.l point On for more thaD
5 mile., ••peclally on the rlqht
(w.st} of road.
Road Y which marks approxlmat. end 01 ob.ldlanlt. field.
To conllnu. 10 borcu: dumps.
loke lell branch. Ma:in blad.d
road Oll.qle. rlqhL
Road Y. Tak. J.lt brallch.
Two .mall brldq... Checlr COIIdltloll belor. ClDQinq. Th.n 'poor
road h.ad. ea.l 10,
Old borax dumps, boll.... and
foundalloDl of Paclllc eoo.t B0rax company milL
the upper valley, continues down the
east side of the borax playa, then enters
the mountains and evenlually finds its
way to Silver Peak. The right branch
holds to the west side of the playa,
then curves still farther west to enter
the larger, inhabited portion of Fish
Lake Valley where there are a number
of big ranches.
This right branch cuts the obsidianite field, and we continued along it.
We already cuuld see the litlle shining
blobs of volcanic glass to Ihe west uf
the road. The material became more
abundant and when we saw specimens
right in the road, we stopped the car
and started collecting.
The slope on which the volca01c
tears occur here is largely composed
of low rises made up of finely crumbled
rock of a grey tone, and sandy washes
between them. The obsidianites can
be found both on the rises and in the
washes and cheCking along more
than five miles of the road convinced
us that they number in the thousands.
Most of them are clear and of cutting
quality, and a great many have the
pinkish tone which makes such lovely
cabochons.
Besides the clear ones we found
opaque black. banded grey and black
and brown mottled specimens. We
also found that when you face into the
sun when hunting, it is almost impossible to see the little stones. Often
we would decide that we had hit a
barren spot but, when we turned baek
toward the car and the sunlight came
over our shoulders, the volcanic tears
would sparkle up at us from all sides.
Probably these stones are the result
of lhe later period of vulcanism herewhen basalt and pumice was poured
out. At least the volcanics of the
area where we found similar obsidianites at Bagdad are supposed to be of
recent origin. 1 am curious to know
just how these beautiful little bits of
natural glass are fashioned. A correspondent who read about the Bagdad stones suggested they might be
tektites. Tektites are those small bits
of natural glass found in various parts
of the world which are believed to be
of extra-earthly or cosmic origin. Most
of them have shapes which might be
the result of their having revolved
through the air in molten state, and
also are marked with odd tittle etchings, pits or flow lines.
None of the obsidianites which I
have seen show these peculiar markings, and most of them do not have
exactly the correct shapes. And while
tektites have been found far (rom the
scene of any volcanic action, the obsidianites seem always to occur near
it. Besides, the volcanic tears are found
over too-widely extended areas to be
accounted for by showers from the
sky, and their numbers arc too great.
With all the specimens we wanted,
we continued to the south end of the
playa to examine the remains of the
borax refinery there. At the Y 10.1
miles from Highway 6, where the main
dirt road curves to the right, we took
the left branch and kept left again
at another Y .1 mUe farther on. The
road was little used and we found two
small bridges in precarious condition,
but crept across without trouble. Then
we followed the poor road easterly and
reached the borax dumps 11.7 miles
from the highway. On old maps this
spot is marked as the site of Ihe Pacific Coasl Borax Company mill. It
is said that in the '70s the company
had a village of 40 adobe and wooden
buildings at its Fish Lake workings,
with a population of 200.
Probably the borax playas of the
valley also owe tbeir origin to the volcanic past. Boric acid is released during volcanic action. and in Ihis region
it must have been collected in the
sediments of old Lake Esmeralda.
Then, when the lake beds were elevated and broken, the borax may have
been leached out and re-concentrated
in the present playas. It is found in
the playa in the form of fibrous nodules
of ulexite-called cotton-balls-and
in 1873 several companies were working the Fish Lake deposits, one producing two tons of concentrated borax
a day.
We left the truck and climbed onto
the old. dumps, our shcx:s breaking
through the time-cemented crust. A
DESERT
MAGAZINE
Bordering Fish Lake Valley on the west is the White MOl/main range. Near its
northern end ;s Nevada's highest point, Boundary Peak, ele~'alion 13,/45 feet.
Farther south on the California side of the boundary the range attains an elevation
of 14;242 011 White Mountain.
description of the worlcings of the
Fish Lake mill was published in the
True Fissure, a Candelaria newspaper,
about 1883, and was preserved in the
annual report, "Mineral Resources of
the United States" for that year.
Today the production of borax is
big business. But when cotton-balls
were being discovered in the evada
desert marshes, it was a gamble that
might payoff handsomely. High prices
were being paid for the crude borax
in New York, and the process of producing it was relatively simple.
It started on the borax marsh where
laborers--often Chinese-scraped up
the cotton-balls and mud with hoes
and the impure mixture was heaped up
in piles to dry, so that its weight would
be less for hauling. Later, loaded into
wagons it was hauled along the deep
Obs;di(m;te field ;/1 Fish Lake Valley. For five miles and more these smoky-pink
ami black "nuggets" may be found Qlang the western shore of rhe whire borax
flars. Silver Peak range in rhe bQckgroltml.
SEPTEMBER,
1950
17
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Liltle remains today to indicate the elaborate refining plant thaI processed
bomx near the sourh entJ of upper Fish Lake 70 years ago. Silver peak
range ill the background.
ruls to the dump. The dump was de- sometimes upon wires inserted for the
signed so that the struggling mules purpose. The crystals were taken from
could drag the wagons right to the lhe tanks, sacked and loaded into
top, where the crude borax was shov- little cars upon which they were run
into the drying sheei. The solution in
eled into the dissolving tanks.
These iron tanks-Fish Lake mill the dissolving tank often was run
had six of them nine feet in diameter through many times before being run
and seven feet deep-were con- out into mud tanks or waste reservoirs.
structed wilh a pattern of sleam pipes
Leaving the site of the borax mill,
in the bottom of each. The pipes, we continued eastward. The road was
perforated every four inches to allow poor and soft for a stretch, winding
escape of sleam, were connected to through little sand hummocks and saltboilers in the engine room. After the encrusted shrubs. Then we climbed
crude borax was dumped in and the slope, cut the Silver Peak road,
enough water pumped from the near- and turned north along it. We followed
by well to bring the mixture to within close to the edge of the playa-first
two feet of the top, the steam was on its east, then north side-stopping
turned on and the soup permitted to once when we noted on our right some
boil and bubble thoroughly. Then the dumps and the foundation of a few
mixture was allowed to settle 10 to buildings. Old square nails, bits of
12 hours.
purple glass and champagne bottles
Left alone, the impurities sank to were scattered in the debris. A few
the bottom. The comparatively clear stubby chollas and thinly scattered
liquid was siphoned into the crystalli- salt weeds were the only vegetation
zen. Fish Lake had 45 of these smal- in this sterile stretch.
ler wooden tanks, lined with galvanized
Unable to sleep, I sat arms about
iron, built on a platform which was knees as the moon soared, staring
about 30 feet below the dissolving across the bone-white playa. Empty,
tanks. Here, as time went on and the desolate, dead, that white crust
solution cooled, the borax crystals stretched to the insignificant, equally
formed on the galvanized iron, and desolate dump of the borax mill. Be-
IS
hind it gaunt bony mountains lifted
their broken ribs against the night.
There was no trace of lights, no sign
of life, no whisper of sound. Strange
that long before I was born this little
comer of desert had boiled with human activity-and now was so empty
and silent. Strange that even the wild
things seem to have abandoned this
bit of ancient valley.
The exuberant yodel of a coyote
broke the mood. There was life in
the valley. And after all, man had left
Fish Lake Marsh through success in
meeting the challenge of life. Once
men had slaved long hours here in
the desert heat for $45 a month and
board (Chinamen $40, no board).
They had lived in tattered wood and
canvas shacks, mud and stone hovels
--even in upturned iron tanks as you
will see if you visit the China Dumps
at the southern edge of Columbus
Marsh. Their release lay in drinking,
opium, gambling. How many had the
heart, the spirit-the strength evenleft to see or learn the beauties of
the desert?
Borax still is mined and refined on
the desert. But those who do it live
in modern communities with the conveniences, recreational facilities and
amusements of civilization. Their
wages are higher, their hours of work
lower. Yet the wholesale price of b0rax is less than one tenth what it was
when the first California discoveries
were made in 1856; less than a fourth
its cost when these Nevada marshes
operated.
And most of the desert dwellers
today are there through choice, not
necessity. And we of the cities envy
them and come out to this wild land
in the free time our fathers never
had-to follow hobbies they never
knew. While we may think we are
roughing it-living ruggedly-in
reality we have brought with us a
multitude of the conveniences which
modem life has brought us along
with its evils.
That is as it should be. We cannot
turn back the clock-we must select
the good of modem ljfe and combine
it with the good of the past, rejecting
nothing simply because it is newfangled or old-fashioned. Sometimes
in the cities it is difficult to do that,
assaulted as we are by waves of manufactured opinion---constant yammer
of commentators, politicians, salesmen
whose existence depends upon keeping us from thinkmg for ourselves.
Sometimes, with Pontius Pilate we ask:
"What is truth?"
I have discovered no better place
to find my own answer to that question
-to find peace of mind where I can
sift the chaff from the grain-than
a lonely moonlit desert night.
DE,SERT
MAGAZINE